Inside the quiet chamber, dao fire burned without end, and fragrant mist curled through the air. There was a sense of transcendence, as though every pore were about to open, brimming with the breath of life.
A man sat cross-legged with a solemn, dignified bearing. Before him stood a great cauldron filled with the Jade Lake Holy Land's most precious water from the Immortal Pool. It rivaled the Divine Springs of the Life Forbidden Zones, something the many holy lands had to respectfully request as a precious supplementary ingredient for refining pills.
Yet today, it had been poured into a great cauldron in extravagant waste, brought to a boil with dao fire, and sprinkled with all manner of spices, filling the air with the homely scents of cooking.
"Hum!"
A Dragon Loach swam, and a medicine king hovered in the air. The figure before the cauldron watched them both with gleaming eyes, seemingly pondering something.
It was an instant, yet it seemed an eternity had passed, as though he had wandered alone through lonely ages for a very, very long time.
A moment later, phantasmal red hairs appeared around his body, wavering between reality and illusion, as though he had encountered something ominous.
But in the next moment, a mark emerged between his brows, shaped like a lotus and crimson as fire.
The Lotus Seal appeared, and the ominous presence retreated. All the strange red hairs melted away like ice and snow beneath a blazing sun.
At the same time, the figure moved. His flesh changed, his shape transformed, and he abruptly vanished, replaced by an enormous Dragon Loach-a man in loach's clothing!
The Dragon Loach in midair was bewildered-where had another of its kind come from?
In the blink of an eye, the enormous Dragon Loach disappeared. When he reappeared, he had become a medicine king, its medicinal fragrance so rich that even a Saint would have turned green with envy.
In the end, however, the medicine king disappeared as well, and he returned to human form with a long sigh.
"It has the shape but not the spirit, the body but not the substance... creating all things is truly too difficult."
"To delve any deeper won't be the work of a single day."
"As for now... let's have a feast first!"
"No one gets to dodge a debt... I'm an assassin. Every coin I earn comes from risking my life, and that bastard Wushi dared to withhold the final payment?!"
"The Jade Pool has vast estates and deep coffers. Surely it's not too much for me, Feng Jiu, to eat a couple of meals without paying!"
Feng Jiu was utterly furious at Wushi's refusal to pay, so angry that tears spilled from the corners of his mouth.
Blade light flashed like dreams and bubbles, and both the medicine king and the Dragon Loach fell victim to his ruthless hands. For the sake of cultivating the Fortune Dao, Feng Jiu decided to dissect them thoroughly, probing every inch of flesh and bone and exploring their mysteries to his heart's content.
Of course, once the exploration was complete, he put the leftovers to good use. They rolled and bobbed in the cauldron, putting on a performance of the Jade Pool's culinary delights.
"Burp!"
Feng Jiu patted his stomach, his face rosy. "This eighty-thousand-year-old mountain yam stewed with Dragon Loach tastes pretty good."
The original broth helped digest the original meal. After half a cauldron of Dragon Loach and yam soup went down his stomach, the injuries Feng Jiu had sustained in his bloody battle with Wushi had largely healed. He felt as vigorous as a dragon and as fierce as a tiger, ready to fight another three thousand rounds.
"But come to think of it, Lady Nuwa's inheritance of creation actually includes deductions about fine cuisine?"
Somewhat amazed, he questioned his own system.
At that, the system shook its head repeatedly, indicating that it knew nothing of the details.
Feng Jiu was already accustomed to his system's ignorance. It had gone out to work not long after being born; life wasn't easy for it, either.
"The Jade Pool really has plenty of good things..."
Feng Jiu sighed with feeling. "Three or five Flat Peaches on the branches, six or seven Dragon Loaches in the Immortal Pool... there's even a little herb garden that has nurtured quite a few medicine kings!"
"The intact Immortal Pool is truly extraordinary. It probably surpasses even the Divine Springs of the Life Forbidden Zones, and it's every bit the equal of sweet dew earth milk. It nourishes the Flat Peaches, lets the Dragon Loaches breed, and even supports medicinal fields."
"Well, that makes sense. After all, there were once two Supremes here."
"I really want to scoop everything up in one net... there won't be such a good opportunity next time. With the Western Emperor Pagoda standing guard, this place will be a deathtrap."
He stroked a large peach and signaled to the reincarnation lotus in his sea of consciousness. This was an offering for it.
The reincarnation lotus swayed, and half the peach vanished, leaving the remaining half for its landlord.
Feng Jiu took great bites out of it. His Wheel of Life was nourished, becoming ever more crystalline and translucent. Divine power surged through his Bitter Sea, and his origin grew even more robust.
"An Emperor Formation, an Emperor Weapon, and an emperor corpse... with a lineup like that, even a Forbidden Zone Supreme would probably shake their head."
"Actually, I'm a little curious... back then, the Western Emperor watched her beloved die horribly, struck down by the Underworld's curse."
"She was the reigning Great Emperor, yet she could only watch it all happen, powerless... and her child, sealed away to emerge in a later age, also had Sacred Body blood and would face the Underworld as well. Would she have prepared a contingency to ensure that her only Emperor's Son could withstand the Underworld's attempts to stop him and survive in the end?"
Even with an empress watching over him, a Great Accomplishment Sacred Body had died so terribly... faced with an Emperor's Son bearing Sacred Body blood, all alone when he emerged in a later age, wouldn't his mother consider how to deal with the dangers?
Feng Jiu didn't know, but he vaguely felt that it would most likely be terrifying.
"Of all the human Great Emperors over the past few hundred thousand years, the Western Emperor should have had the strongest reason to sever her own cultivation... if for nothing else, then for her child."
"Once, her husband died before her eyes, and she was powerless... then consider her child, who would one day also be targeted by the Underworld, who might also sprout red hair and die a miserable death..."
"Tsk!"
"Madam, you wouldn't want your child to grow red hair, would you?"
Wushi's future was dazzling... but the Western Emperor didn't know that!
Considering it purely from a mother's perspective, what sort of contingency would this empress leave behind for her only child...?
"The Western Emperor could have severed her own cultivation, hidden away in wait, and reappeared when Wushi faced danger, abandoning everything to fight a battle through ultimate sublimation... that would make sense."
"After all, other Emperors' Sons might not necessarily run into trouble, but an Emperor's Son with Sacred Body blood most likely would!"
"But the Western Emperor died, joining the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body..."
"Could it be that she was more useful dead than alive?"
"What sort of trump card did she bury that required her imperial life as a sacrifice?"
"After all, she was the only innate dao embryo to become a Great Emperor... an innate dao embryo resonates with the Great Dao of heaven and earth. It's truly extraordinary."
"All the myriad phenomena of the world lie within the Dao... not just the good side, but the bad side as well."
"Slaughter is Dao, destruction is Dao, and death... is also Dao!"
Feng Jiu murmured to himself, "Dao embryo... Great Dao... Heavenly Heart... dao transformation..."
"Forget it... I'll leave these headaches to the Life Forbidden Zones."
He suddenly smiled and left the quiet chamber where the elders of the Jade Lake Holy Land believed he was cultivating in seclusion, leaving behind just under half a cauldron of medicinal stew.
Feng Jiu darted through the Jade Lake Holy Land, his figure like light and lightning, so ethereal he seemed not to exist.
In the end, he considered the wisdom of leaving some room in one's dealings so that future meetings would be pleasant. He did not strip the entire Jade Lake Holy Land bare and drive an Emperor's Son to fight him to the death with bloodshot eyes.
He took only one Flat Peach and two Dragon Loaches... that was all.
"Hahahaha!"
And carefree, he
departed, leaving the Jade Lake Holy Land with a clear destination in mind.
"Why do I have a bad feeling?"
Wushi rubbed the space between his brows. He sat upright in a hastily carved-out secret chamber, making the most of his time after the bloody battle to contemplate all the insights that fight had given him.
Suddenly, he was jolted from his meditation. A face surfaced in his mind, making his fist clench involuntarily.